If it had been up to Joe Burrow's teammates, his gift might have been a little different than the authentic Japanese sword he gave them.
“Well, they wanted guns…and I was like, 'Guys, I don't know about guns,'” Barrow told reporters.. “I was thinking about weapons and thinking, 'What would be a cool weapon?' I think samurai swords are pretty cool.”
The sword was a big hit with his teammates, who also raved about the gift last week.
The Bengals quarterback allowed each lineman to choose their own sword with their own unique background.
Barrow believed it was his employee who stepped in to find the sword for his teammate.
“And Nicole, she works for me and was able to go find them for me,” Ms. Vallow said. “I mean, she did a great job of finding the best out of it. So I think everyone was excited about it, too.”
Tackle Orlando Brown raved about Burrow's gift to The Athletic after he gave it to him.
“Joe is great at buying very meaningful gifts,” Brown said. “The fact that he bought me a sword, that's the oldest form of respect.”
For now, Cincy appears to be smiling broadly as the Bengals have managed to keep their slim playoff hopes alive with three straight wins, including a 24-6 victory over the Browns on Sunday.
A few things will have to happen for the Bengals to make the postseason.
First, they need to win their final two games, then the Broncos need to lose the final week of the season against the Chiefs, and the Dolphins and Colts need to drop at least one more game.
